Recently we paid for and took a hike up the Volcan Santa Maria with Hike & Help here in Xela, Guatemala. A non profit that supports libraries on local communities, we chose to go with them because their guides are actual Guatemaltecos rather than gringos. I have recently begun to dislike the concept of gringo ¨vacationing¨ in a place and in the process taking jobs away from locals. This particular hike took place at night, during the full moon, and so it was a special occasion for all of us.

This was about the point where my good feelings toward our guides ended. While I don´t think groups need to be hand held, there are a few points that I thought should have been discussed before heading up the mountain given that the group had very mixed experience.[ad#final-review-ad]

Meeting at their office at midnight we were quickly on our way to the volcano to begin our hike. Given that we were beginning at 7500 feet and climing to 12,400 – during the night, when it is both dark and cold – I expected there to be some discussion, even in Spanish, on the effects of hypothermia and the importance of regulating your body temerature in addition to telling us the importance of staying together. This never happened.

The hike up was a difficult one and it was not long before some participants began to fall behind. One person even began vomiting shortly after the start of the hike. Quickly we split into two groups, one with the front guide, who was tearing up the mountain at breakneck speed and another group with the enfirmed.

Generally the pattern was to hike with him very quickly, work up a sweat, then sit in the cold for 20 minutes allowing the sweat to cause shivers while the slower portion of the group caught up. Walking slowly, in the middle became our best option as we could take more frequent breaks for less time but then we were alone, in the dark, in a stange country…why did we hire the guide? Additionally, the fact the group was almost never together and the majority of the hikers had no hope in keeping pace with the first guide meant that had we encountered more trouble it would have been a much longer time before help would have arrived as the guides would not have known. This breackneck pace was repeated on the way down only without a single opportunity to rest our exhausted, trembling legs.

I do not belive these guides were malicious but rather that they are not actually qualified guides. I write this as someone who has wilderness first aid training in addition to having led many groups on hikes and other adventures. I do not belive these guides, themselves, have had any training in wilderness first aid, hypothermia, group safety, or anything other training a paid wilderness guide should have. Luckily there were no repercussions this time but it really is only a matter of time before something serious does happen.

In the end, I do not recommend using Hike and Help as an outfitter when in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala.

Because we haven’t had enough of lava and volcanoes we signed ourselves up for a full moon hike of Santa Maria, an active volcano just outside of Xela. Although it last erupted in 1922, the best part about hiking Santa Maria is being able to look down on the ever erupting Santiaguito, a vent off of the main volcano. Full moon + hiking up a volcano + potential to look down on a volcanic eruption? Clearly we had to sign up.

Fortunately our school scheduled a hike for Saturday morning up (The Molar) La Muela, a mountain formed from Santa Maria’s 1902 eruption. Overlooking Xela, La Muela was a good warm up for the overnight full moon set to begin mere hours later. Beginning our ascent, we walked up a cobblestone road before turning onto a steep path heading up the mountain. An easy climb with some fun bouldering on the exposed spires, we made it to the top only to find ourselves in the middle of an evangelical religious ceremony. Only in Guatemala. Climbing further, we sat atop the mountain listening to bits of the sermon below. “Gracias Dios por los rios!” “Gracias Dios por la tierra!” Munching on snacks, we admired the view of Quetzaltenango below before watching the indigenous women pick their way back down the mountain in traditional clothes and high heels. So much for complaining about my hiking boots!

Heading home for lunch, we took a brief nap before meeting up with some friends. At midnight we met at our outfitter and headed out in the darkness for Santa Maria. About 55 degrees Fahrenheit when we left Xela and thankfully for the first time in a week not raining, we were in good spirits with clear skies. Somewhere along the way the group split in two and we found ourselves racing up the muddy path at a rapid speed trying to keep up with the guide only to break for 20 minutes waiting for the other half. Needless to say we were sweaty and cold and having a difficult time regulating our body temperature. Not really sure what to expect at high altitude, Xela is about 7700 feet, we felt the air thin as we climbed the volcano. Both tired from our lack of sleep and from hiking uphill for several hours, it was clear that as we climbed higher and higher we were having more trouble breathing. Rising to about 12,400 feet, the top of Santa Maria has about 40% less oxygen than sea level. Although we were well acclimatized to the altitude of Xela, our ascent proved to be challenging. More challenging for Danny since he carried our pack of water and warm clothes. It’s amazing what a difference a mere 6000 feet can make, well that and several inches of mud. Although the trail was cut and well troddened up the mountain, decent switchbacks didn’t really exist so we were essentially walking vertically up the mountain. The last hour of our ascent I felt completely out of shape, it was probably the highest I’ve ever climbed and the altitude really started to affect me. Others in the group were walking erratically up the path, probably because of the lack of sleep and altitude, but we held our steady pace and eventually began to see the top.

Reaching the top, we found an incredible full moon to the west and the first signs of dawn to the east. I felt like I was literally straddling the line between day and night, which was a very incredible and powerful feeling. Our pictures don’t really do it justice. Looking to my right I tried to etch the image of the moonlight over the mountain range in my memory before sunrise. Unfortunately the change in temperature and extreme exposure ruined the moment and we quickly bundled up in sleeping bags. Like time lapsed photography, the sun rose quickly and soon we could see the entire mountain range spread out below us. Until that moment I didn’t really understand why people climb at high altitudes for enjoyment.

Walking around the top we looked down at Sanguelito, an active volcanic vent formed off the western slope of Santa Maria, just in time to see an eruption of smoke and steam. One of the most active volcanoes in all of Central America, Sanguelito erupts every few minutes, although usually only smoke and steam are visible. Sometimes you are just in the right place at the right time. You can actually hike up Sanguelito if you want. No thanks! Freezing, exhausted, and with legs trembling from exertion we headed back down the mountain at breakneck speed. Back in Xela we searched for an open restaurant at 9:30 am that was serving something besides eggs but only managed only to find Pollo Compero (fried chicken). Collapsing in our bed sometime around noon, after calling our mothers for mothers day, we slept all afternoon attempting to recover from our first all-nighter since college. Two days later we are still recovering. 🙂

After Finca Ixobel, I wasn’t really sure what to expect when we got to Rio Dulce. Manatees, kayaking, eco-lodges, sounded like our kind of place. As we hiked to Rio Dulce’s famous hot spring waterfall, we encountered Guatemalan children along the way. Given that I had only studied Spanish for two weeks, it was no surprise that they seemed disappointed when I handed them mangoes from my bag. We reached the hot springs and jumped in. A strange mix of hot water from the waterfall and cold water from upstream, the water was refreshing and relaxing at the same time. We swam to a cave behind the waterfall, enjoying the water…until we started to feeling small pinches, like mosquito bites. Not paranas, but little tiny fish were trying to nibble our legs. Freaked out Becka jumped out of the stream and not surprisingly, Danny climbed the waterfall to jump into the pool below.

Crossing another hot springs off the list, we decided to head to Livingston the next day via boat. Of course that night was a torrential downpour of what seemed biblical proportions. Debating the boat ride to Livingston, we stood on the dock trying to gauge the weather. All of a sudden we heard a gasp from below. Two river otters peaked there heads out of the water, shook their noses at us and disappeared. If they could do it, so could we. An hour and a half later down the river, we found ourselves on Guatemala’s Caribbean coast. Completely different than the rest of Guatemala, Livingston has a Garafuna population of Africans that crashed on the coast hundreds of years ago. The area around Livingston has a island feel, complete with palm trees, Caribbean patois and I’m sure if we looked hard enough Rastafarians. 🙂

Heading south, up next was Lake Atitlan for a few days of relaxation. Really, we needed more relaxation after hot springs and waterfalls. Just the joys of travel! Panahachel (aka Gringotenango – place of the gringos) was little more than an extremely commercial tourist trap, so we quickly headed out of town and took a hike around the lake. Cautioning us that it is dangerous and people get robbed, the tourist office advised us to hire a guide for $40 U.S.D. Right, no way that was going to happen. Hiking through the little towns along the coast reminded me of Cinque Terre in Italy. It was just as beautiful and although the hills were steep, “En Serio” (Seriously) Becka said at each uphill climb, it was just as fun. We arrived safely in San Marcos late in the afternoon and headed back to Panahachel in time for happy hour.

One item remained on our must-do Guatemala list, hiking Volcan Pacaya. One of the most active volcanoes in the world, Volcan Pacaya lacks the safety measures of the Western World so you can actually go right up to the lava. Booking a volcano hike in the afternoon during rainy season may not have been the smartest thing we’ve ever done, but we’ve definitely done worse. Not letting it dampen our spirits, we bought trash bags from the local kids and fashioned ourselves rain ponchos. Climbing the mountain the rain came in sheets, eventually creating mudslides. We gave up trying to stay dry and as we picked our way through the intense fog we could feel the waves of hot steam hit our faces long before we could see it. Walking in gravel of volcanic rock the guide pointed in the distance and we saw a river of lava. Inching closer (two steps forward, one step back), with no barriers, no ropes, nothing to prevent us from reaching out and touching the hot lava except for our common sense, we got as close as we dared. We may have actually been closer to lava in Hawaii, since we could see it flowing under the ground, but here the river of lava was completely above ground and from several meters away we could feel the heat and the steam. It was like being on the Discovery Channel… except for the rain. Like true discovery channel hosts, we inched closer to the lava and watched it flow like molasses down the volcano. Unlike Hawaii where the lava entered the ocean, creating new land, the end of our lava flow was lost somewhere in the storm. Two other RTW travelers, Tracy and David pulled out marshmallows, a frying pan and eggs. It might be pouring rain, but they were going to feast. Pulling away some hot rocks, they fried eggs in the rain and promptly enjoyed a soggy but delicious egg sandwich while graciously proving us with all the marshmellows we could stand. Victorious, we headed back down the muddy path which was now more of a mud slide than anything else. Definitely one of the coolest things we’ve ever done.

…there were the ancient Mayan people. They lived on the third moon of Endor where they built a city known to them as Tikal which also served as their secret Jedi base in their battle against the evil Spanish Empire. Thankfully, the real life city never faced a Deathstar even if it did house the rebel base in the original Star Wars.

And so began our trip to Tikal, all day long I kept making Star Wars references (I mean really, who wouldn’t) and I’m quite sure that the girls (Jill and her sister Ponch – err, Rebekah – who had just joined us for the week) were quite happy I left my harmonica behind and could not play the Star Wars theme around every corner. Having arrived via overnight bus in Santa Elena (the nearby modern city) at around 4:45am, we were on our way into Tikal just 45 minutes later and entered the park at 7am; before the sun was strong, while the monkeys were quite active, and with fog surrounding the temples.

Tikal itself has a long and storied history. First occupied about 600BCE it reached its zenith about a millennia later with somewhere between 50k and 100k inhabitants over more than 100 sq km. That prosperity did not last for long as the site was completely abandoned in the 10th century, likely on account of warfare, over population and environmental degradation, and ultimately drought.

For the most popular attraction in Guatemala, the ruins were virtually empty. (We later found out about swine flu, maybe that is why no one was there?) The most amazing thing about Tikal is the shear size. Unlike Palenque or other ruins in Central America, Tikal is HUGE so the lack of crowds, the size and the fact that we actually found monkeys (successfully this time!) made Tikal a great trip.

After six hours at Tikal the sun was out and the mosquitoes began to bite. We headed south for the evening to Poptun, a small city two hours south of Tikal. As if climbing pyramids wasn’t cool enough, we ended our day at Finca Ixobel. Open your Lonely Planet and there is almost a half page description of this hostel/ranch/hang out. Whatever you’ve heard its true, and although I’d been there before, it was on my “must do again” list in Guatemala. The food was delicious and we didn’t mind sleeping under mosquito nets for the first time.

The next day at Finca Ixobel was my idea of a perfect day on the road. I got up at sunrise and set out to go for a jog, up a still buried Mayan pyramid. Straight up and down, I finished my run covered in sweat, mud, and as I later discovered…27 ticks. After breakfast we headed out on the Finca’s headline trip… a cave swim. A two hour walk to the cave (let’s keep in mind I had already run two hours) through jungle and a very “full” cow field, we happily jumped into the cold water at the cave and began our journey in darkness. With headlamps and candles, we first encountered bats (hopefully they weren’t having any bowel movements) and as we got further and further we found little rapids, tons of wild rock formations, and finally the leap of faith. Standing above a subterranean waterfall with a guide (speaking only Spanish) shining his light down 10 meters in darkness, telling you there is a big rock right below you so its really importante to jump as far away from the wall as possible is a little nerve racking…but a ton of fun. We jumped one at a time into the freezing cold yelling all manner of obscenities on the way down. No one hit the rock, our only casualty was someone else’s headlamp.

Swimming back out of the cave, we ate some lunch and headed back to the Finca for my celebratory meal… cake and french fries! What could make the day any better you ask? I’m so glad you asked! Somehow we managed to wrangle a game of ultimate frisbee together for the better part of an hour, the first I’ve played since leaving my daily DC game behind. Aside from missing people, the thing I miss most about home is being able to exercise and get sweaty on a daily basis. Many of the places we’ve traveled to are not friendly to a pedestrian let alone a runner. Additionally, add to that the constant work (yes, I said work) at managing our finances, finding places to sleep, and working out our transportation, and we’ve had our hands quite full. Don’t get me wrong, I’m having the time of my life and doing some incredible things…but suffice it to say, backpacking can be difficult. Our time at Finca Ixobel was the perfect mini vacation from backpacking and the frisbee game was the perfect end to my perfect day.